


Every. F***ing. Day.

by MaraBlake



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, As if you couldn't tell from the title, Eden - Freeform, F/M, I hate tagging, I take back that One Shot thing..., In my head Clarke says all of this to Bellamy, My poor babies need to kiss and make up, Negotiations, Not canon but I wish it was (sorta), One Shot, Tell your friends to come read this, bad language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-18 17:46:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14857326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaraBlake/pseuds/MaraBlake
Summary: As Clarke begins negotiations with the Eligius Crew to find a way to share Eden, Bellamy isn't pleased. He picked the wrong day to make his feelings known.





	1. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Clarke begins negotiations with the Eligius Crew to find a way to share Eden, Bellamy isn't pleased. He picked the wrong day to make his feelings known.

Bellamy couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Just yesterday, they had arrived back in Eden to confirm that the Eligius Crew had no intention of sharing the only fertile land left on the planet. What ever he’d expected to see, this wasn’t it. Clarke had gone off with Diyoza and McCreary hours ago to try and come up with an agreement that would suit everyone. Diyoza had come back two hours ago. Alone. 

Wracked with nerves, he nearly came undone at the mere idea of His Princess being with a serial killer all alone. It didn’t matter how much of a badass Clarke Griffin used to be. It’d been six long years since she wore the face of Wanheda. Now she was a mom, a survivor, but she wasn’t a warrior. Not anymore. He ducked away from his group of Space Survivors and stalked across the camp to find out what the hell she was doing.

“Are you serious right now Clarke?” He grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her off to the side, away from the ears of the monster who couldn’t stop smiling at her. “What the hell are you doing with him?”

“Most people would say, ‘Hey Clarke, how did negotiations go?’ before dragging me around, but maybe you’ve just forgotten what manners are.” She rolled her eyes, a look of surprise on her face. “Fine, by the way. Everyone stays for now. We’ll renegotiate in two weeks after we’ve had time to assess everyone’s skillsets and value to a community as a whole.”

Bellamy chuffed, his hands on his hips. “And what exactly did you offer him in return for such gracious consideration?”

Clarke took a step back and laughed. “Oh my God, are you jealous right now? Who do you think you are? Nice to know you’re the only one around here who can hook up with someone whenever you want a piece of ass.” She nodded her head in the direction of the SpaceKru.

Bellamy’s face blurred bright red and his jaw ticked. “Echo isn’t just a piece of ass Clarke. It’s more than that.”

“Oh,” Clarke chuckled. “I’m sure it is. It’s always something with you, isn’t it?”

“Why him Clarke? Do you know what he’s done? How many people he’s killed?” He stepped forward into her space again. “We found his file up on the Eligius. He was convicted of dozens of murders. He’s a serial killer Clarke.”

Clarke’s expression blanked and her brow crinkled as if she were considering Bellamy’s words. “Let’s say he killed dozens, how about ten… Ten dozen people. That’s 120… Which means he’s killed at least 480 less than I have. I’d hate to see what you say about me to your friends.” She pushed off to walk away from him, brushing shoulders angrily.

Once again, Bellamy reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “What the hell is your problem Clarke?”

“My problem? Suddenly you give a shit about my problem? It’s a little late for that don’t you think? Looks like Echo’s over there waiting for you. Better run along.”

His grip became tighter and prevented her from pulling away. “Would you just talk to me? Please?”

Clarke spun around quicker than he is ready and threw a sharp slap to his face. “I DID talk to you Bellamy. I talked to you every fucking day for over six years. And not ONE TIME did you talk back, but I never stopped. I never gave up, even though I knew there was a chance you didn’t make it. Obviously, you didn’t feel the same, which is fine. I get it. I’m over it. You should get over it too.”

He couldn’t stop the accusation from stinging his heart. Through held back tears, he let go of her arm and pleaded. “I thought you were dead, Clarke. I thought you died to save us and if we didn’t try to move on, try to live, we wouldn’t be honoring your sacrifice.”

Clarke slowly turned around and fixed a deadly glare onto her one-time partner. “And did you do anything to honor the death of your sister? The death of all of humanity? Or is hooking up with the woman who has betrayed us more times than I care to think about your version of memorializing? I hope every single time you laid in her bed, you thought about the time you accused me of the exact same thing with Lexa. Hell, at least Lexa never sent a sword through Octavia’s gut before sending her over a fucking cliff. Maybe you two can name your first born after your beloved sister.”

“Don’t compare Echo to Lexa. It’s not the same thing and you know it.”

“You’re right, I do know it. What I felt for Lexa was love. You apparently just wanted to get your dick wet and Echo was around.”

“Fuck you Clarke. That’s not what happened. She helped me cope with the thought that you’d…”

Clarke cut him off. “Fuck YOU Bellamy Blake. Don’t you dare say you fucked another woman so you could feel better about me being dead. Why did you come down the day you did? Here I thought you’d come to save me at the perfect moment, just like we always saved each other. By some great luck of the universe, your drop ship finally made it down. But that’s not what happened at all is it?” She held her hand to his face when he started to respond. “I already fucking know what happened. You thought you heard you sister being hunted down. Funny how you managed to make it down for your sister. You know, the one who was locked up safe inside a bunker while I was left out to burn in the fires. It took you all of two fucking seconds to decide to come to her rescue. Why did you never assume she was dead too Bellamy? We were on the same planet, with the same Praimfiya.”

“She had the shelter of the bunker keeping her alive. I knew that.”

Clarke laughed. “No, you assumed that. How many times did you talk to her over the radio in the past six years, huh?”

“You know the transmissions wouldn’t make it through to the ground.”

A slow smile crept across her features. “And yet, you never considered for even a moment that your sister might be dead too? Even knowing that I stayed instead of any of the rest of you because I had Nightblood and had a chance of living. You got the same radio silence from them as you did me. But hey, you do you, and I’ll take care of myself just like I have for the past six years while you played Space Family.”

This time, when she knocked against him to stomp away, he didn’t try to stop her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it just me or did anyone else get a little miffed about SpaceKru writing Clarke off for dead the moment the hit the ring?


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone else close to Clarke's heart questions her relationship with McCreary. The real question is whether or not Clarke even knows what the hell she's doing with him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna have to let sh*t get real since there's no freaking way what they aired on tv last night could be reality...

“So… should we discuss some new negotiations?” McCreary didn’t bother to try to keep his amusement a secret.

“What new negotiations?” Clarke asked him before she took his water canteen and chugged most of the contents.

“Well it sounded to me like I should’ve held out for some special treatment or something. You’re really hung up on a guy who thinks you sell your ass for favors?” This time, he’d leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. “Why’d you let him assume that happened anyway?”

Clarke shrugged. “It wasn’t my intention but if that’s what he wants to think, I don’t really give a shit anymore.”

McCreary’s face split into a shit-eating grin. “You might be worth ‘negotiating’ with after all,” he chuckled.

Clarke opened her eyes so that they were comically big and batted her eyelashes. “And that collar trick you like to do so much can be foreplay! How could a girl refuse?”

This time, McCreary’s laugh was genuine which made it easy for Clarke to shoot a cautiously friendly smile at him. “Maybe torture and control is my kink?” he laughed.

“There are some things that just shouldn’t be explored.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his body. Leaning down he whispered in her ear. “Maybe you losing control for a few hours wouldn’t be a bad thing.” He glanced over in Bellamy’s direction before pressing a very wet kiss to Clarke’s neck. 

Clarke tried not to react, but it was nearly impossible. She hadn’t felt the sexual touch of another person in years. Thankfully before she had enough time to process, it was over.

From the other side of the big campfire, Diyoza called out. “Graveyard! Get your ass over here.”

McCreary rolled his eyes. “Speaking of someone who needs to lose control…”

“You better run before someone puts one of those collars on you.” Clarke warned.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” he replied as a shadow fell across his face. “I meant what I said tonight. I’m not the guy to say something instead of showing it. You don’t need to be afraid of me. I wish I’d never done that to you but I swear I’ll never hurt you again. Nothing is going to happen to you or your daughter unless I’m dead.”

“Well then I guess it’s my best interests to keep you alive.” A slight blush crept up her cheeks until her eyes shimmered with mischief. 

The man chuckled as he walked away. Clarke stood stock still, watching him approach the woman who seemed to be in charge of the prisoners… former prisoners. Her main concern was whether or not they were actually just former prisoners or reformed criminals. Either way, the only bad blood between her and all of them was the shock collar incident. She’d probably have done the same thing if roles were reversed. She couldn’t blame them for being so aggressive against her, but she wasn’t about to forget it just because McCreary had a nice smile and actually was a good conversationalist once Diyoza had left them alone. She suspected that his violent, extreme behavior was more about maintaining an upper hand with the rest of the Eligius Crew. Nothing kept subordinates in line quite as effectively as fear. Apparently Octavia had spent the last six years proving that.

Instead of joining anyone at the fire, she went into the cabin that she’d made home to find Madi sound asleep. Exhausted, she slumped onto the tattered sofa and laid her head back. Everything hurt. Her feet hurt from the constant movement, her back hurt from standing all day, her neck still hurt from the collar, her heart still hurt from the sudden end to her fairy tale fantasy. If only she could sleep to escape it all. Instead, she internalized a groan when she heard her door open and bang closed. Just from the cadence of the footsteps, she knew who it was.

“Got a minute?” Raven asked, sitting down before she’d gotten a reply.

“Sure. I’ve got all the time in the world. What’s up?”

“That fight with Bellamy was pretty intense. Wanna talk about it?”

Clarke kept her eyes closed. Not only did that send a silent ‘I’m exhausted go away’ message to her old friend, she also didn‘t have to look her in the eye. “There isn’t anything to say that I didn’t already. Life goes on, right?”

Raven let out a deep sigh. “I get it you know. We all do. When we left you here, we all thought you’d died. Not just Bellamy. All of us. I’ve never been happier to be wrong in my life but you’ve gotta cut him some slack Clarke. We’ve all been away from you for so much longer than we were together before Primfiya. You can’t seriously expect him to not try to find any happiness up there. Living on the ring wasn’t easy for any of us you know.”

Clarke squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, and tried to sort her thoughts before she said the wrong thing. It’s such a shame they all had to be stuck together, alive, not starving to death, not alone, not thirsty, not on the verge of death, spending their days with each other, having a real life human to talk to that talked back… Those were the words she couldn’t say. Slowly, she picked her head up and turned to Raven. “No one said anything. He didn’t say anything. How could he be with her of all people? If it was you, I would understand. You two were friends, you’d worked together and fought side by side to survive what Echo’s people put ours through. Hell, you two even slept together before you went back to the Ark. She didn’t do anything to get Gina out of the mountain. She let her die, breaking yours AND Bellamy’s heart. Why her Raven?”

“I never made myself available for anything like that Clarke. I can’t explain their attraction to each other or how or why they work together, but they are family now. They have been for years. You can’t expect him to just drop that when he finds out you’re alive. And hooking up with some psycho to make him feel like shit isn’t going to do anyone any good.”

Clarke laughed in her face. “Is this the speech you gave Bellamy when he decided to hook up with his little psycho? I don’t expect him to do anything. In fact, if he did, I wouldn’t invite him into my life now anyway. Anyone that gave up on me six years ago doesn’t deserve my time.”

“Come on Clarke, that’s not fair…”

A snort escaped Clarke’s mouth before she could stop it. “God forbid something not be fair for everyone else around here. I am beginning to miss the days when it was just me and Madi and the only thing we had to worry about was which berries would dye our hair the best.”

“You still haven’t explained McCreary. Is it just revenge? Because if you’re using him to make Bellamy jealous, it’s working. You should get out while you can, before he hurts you.”

As of he had been waiting outside for the perfect moment to make an entrance, McCreary walked into the cabin without knocking. “Ready to pick up where we left off Babe?”

Raven tried to swallow her obvious distain while Clarke let a slow smile fill her expression. Without another word to her friend, or the man who’d just barged into her house she stood and pressed herself against him.

If McCreary was surprised at all, he didn’t show it when Clarke pressed her lips against his. He didn’t seem to mind when her tongue darted out, tracing the seal of his lips. He definitely didn’t try to push her away when her tongue demanded entrance to his mouth.

After an uncomfortable few moments passed, Raven cleared her throat. “Should I just leave Clarke?”

Clarke hummed, not bothering to break away from the man who’d wrapped his arms around her to return every bit of attention that she was dishing out, her fingers carding through the longer lengths of his hair. 

He tugged his face away from Clarke’s and leered at Raven. “Sorry but I don’t want to share her tonight. You can check back tomorrow if you’re still interested. Gonna need you to run along for now though.” He returned his focus on Clarke and didn’t bother to wait for Raven to leave before grabbing the hem of her shirt and pulling it off over her head.

“What a fucking dick…” Raven muttered, not caring if the door slammed behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, clicking that kudos, or commenting.  
> Life is crazy around here but my GotchaBoy is already burrowed into my heart. He's freaking hysterical and such a joy to be around. I am convinced he isn't just pretending so that I give him a big allowance or anything,..  
> Anyway, here you go, Jamespotters, Cort22, and SoftKitty_WarmKitty!  
> Thanks for stopping by!


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Road trips are always fun, right?

As soon as Clarke was sure Raven was gone, she pushed McCreary away from her. She slumped back down on the sofa and pulled her shirt back on. “That went too far,” she noted.

“Trust me, I didn’t mind.”

There was a cross between a friendly smile and an evil leer on his face. She chose to ignore the leer. “Well don’t expect it to ever happen again. I’m sure everyone is going to hear about this before the sun comes up.”

“As long as it pisses off pretty boy, do you really care?” He sat down at the other end of the sofa and shifted sideways to settle in and get more comfortable.

Clarke looked down at her fingernails, which she’d been nervously picking at ever since the SpaceKru came back. “I don’t want him to be angry.” She muttered.

“Then what’s the point? To make yourself miserable?”

“No!” Clarke’s head whipped around to face him. “To show him that it doesn’t matter to me that he moved on. So did I.”

“But you haven’t, have you?”

“You do realize that until your ship landed, the only human on earth besides me was my daughter, right? Just because I don’t have someone in my bed every fucking day doesn’t mean I haven’t moved on.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as him.

It didn’t escape McCreary’s notice. “Well how about you get back to your girl and get some sleep. Diyoza wants us to map the valley so we’re heading out in the morning. I figured you’d know the terrain better than anyone else so you’re going with us.”

Clarke stood up. “I don’t remember you asking if I would go.”

“I didn ‘t,” he quipped, stretching out on the sofa, apparently settling in for the night. “Got an extra blanket?”

“Nope,” Clarke snarked before she locked her bedroom door behind her, grateful that the banging door didn’t wake up Madi.

 

***

Madi revved the engine of the rover, impatient while they waited for McCreary and whoever else was heading out this morning. Clarke had already thrown their bedrolls, tent, and rations in the back so they were obviously going to be gone more than a day. She drummed her fingertips against the steering wheel and sighed loudly when McCreary walked past her open window. 

“In a hurry little one?” he sneered.

“I have a name, Madi grumbled. “And it’s not ‘Little One’.” She didn’t try to hide her obvious distrust of the man. He only laughed about it and climbed into the front passenger seat. One of his lackeys jumped into the backseat and Clarke followed him in. One more man hauled himself into the back of the rover, along with a large bag of equipment. They were just about to pull away when a tall figure stepped in front of the rover to stop them.

“I’m going with you,” Bellamy said, sliding into the backseat next to Clarke.

“This isn’t really necessary,” Clarke said to Bellamy. “I’m sure there are things you’d rather be doing that a mapping expedition. There’s a hunting party going out in about an hour if you’re just bored and looking for something to do.”

“I’m not bored. I’d like to see the valley too. I helped Arkadia map the ground before Primfiya. I wonder how different it all is.” Bellamy snuck a quick look at the girl next to him. The backseat wasn’t really big enough for three adults to sit comfortably, so Clarke had no choice other than to be pressed against him.

“Trust me,” Clarke said. “Everything. Everything is different.” She shifted in her seat, trying to get as far away from Bellamy as she could. Unfortunately, she quickly found out that practically sitting on his lap was the only choice. Only choice; their favorite oxymoron. 

Without ceremony, Madi whipped the rover into drive and took off toward the river. McCreary watched Clarke and Bellamy through the rear view mirror. They weren’t even halfway to their goal before he told Madi to pull over for a minute.

“Why?” The crinkle of her forehead matched her mom’s when Clarke wanted an answer.

“I gotta pee,” McCreary quipped.

Madi snickered. “Clarke always told me to go before we leave.”

“Well I don’t have a mommy around to tell me what to do, so pull over.”

“Did you kill her too?” A deep, rumbling voice from the backseat spoke. “I mean I saw they classified you as a family annihilator but it didn’t say if you wiped out your own family or just preferred to kill other people’s.”

“Bellamy, don’t,” Clarke warned as the rover came to a stop. 

Bellamy shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not afraid of him.”

“You should be,” Clarke muttered.

“Why? Are you?”

Before Clarke had a chance to answer, the prisoner next to her opened his door to get out and McCreary took his place.

“I thought you had to pee?” Madi stated rather bluntly. “You better not pee in the rover.”

Clarke chuckled at Madi’s stern warning and turned to Bellamy. “Yes,” is all she said.

“Yes what?” McCreary asked.

“Yes the river is safe, no snakes.” She turned her attention to the man next to her. “When we first landed years ago, Bellamy’s sister was bitten by a huge snake in the river. He was just wanting to know if the same danger existed.”

Bellamy focused his vision straight ahead, refusing to look at or near McCreary. The rover lurched forward into motion again and the voices all fell silent. He noticed that Clarke didn’t seem to lean into McCreary at all. After what Raven said about them being all over each other, he wasn’t just surprised, he was a little suspicious.

The only thing that broke the silence in the vehicle was Madi turning on Maya and Jasper’s old music player. It reminded him of six years ago, making the same runs with Raven, Monty, Miller, Jasper and Octavia. Six years ago when everything wasn’t dead, when he wasn’t so confused about everyone and everything around him. 

Lost in his own thoughts, Bellamy couldn’t help but commiserate over the thought that things would be easy once they came back. Octavia would see his trust in Echo, allowing her to give the girl a chance too. Emori and Murphy would find their way back to each other. Monty and Harper would finally allow themselves to have a baby. Raven would be able to relax now that she wasn’t pressuring herself every single day to solve yet another impossible problem. He thought back to the list Clarke had made when they were figuring out the shelter situation and it reminded him of the list he still carried in his pocket every day for the last six years. On the paper was a list of names with the header “Memorial Wall”. It included Clarke Griffin, Jasper Jordan, Finn Collins, Wells Jaha, Zoe Monroe, Atom Ward, Charlotte Vidovic, Gina Martin, Commander Lexa, Liam Lovejoy, Maya Vie, Vincent Vie, King Roan Kom Azgeda, Luna Kom Floukru, plus many other people that the others on the Ring were able to tell him about. They’d lost a lot of people in the short time on the ground the first time and he was determined to make sure it didn’t happen like that again.

Finally, they came to a stop before a steep, tree-covered hill. “The river is right over the rise,” Madi said everyone in the rover.

As everyone started unloading themselves, Clarke added, “There is a large system of caves here too. You should think about sending in a few teams to map those as well. If we use the caves for housing and storage, we will be able to have more people in the valley. Maybe even everyone.”

“Everyone?” Bellamy’s eyebrow quirked upward. “You want everyone here?”

Clarke shrugged, noncommittally. “I’m not in charge of anything here. Remember when you thought that was a good thing? I won’t have anything to do with deciding who lives and who dies ever again.”

She pulled her satchel strap over her shoulder and handed the lighter of their bags to Madi. Once the Eligius men and Bellamy had their packs shouldered and equipment bags in hand, Clarke led them up the hill. It took about fifteen minutes to scale it, but once they were at the top, they were rewarded with a majestic view of an even more impressive valley. The river snaked through, all of the way out of site in both directions. They could hear the sounds of rapids or a waterfall. Near the bank of the river, a small group of deer was drinking. It reminded Clarke of her first night on earth, trying to get to Mt Weather and seeing the two-headed deer. Here at least, there was only one head on each of the four animals.

One of the Eligius men shouldered his weapon and aimed toward the animals. Madi noticed and let out a blood-curdling scream. The animals instantly bolted and the man spun around angrily, his weapon still up and ready to fire. Bellamy jumped in front of the girl and McCreary gripped the barrel and ripped it out of the man’s hands. Slowly, he turned to face Madi, who was still behind Bellamy, Clarke standing next to her protectively as well.

“Care to explain why you would do that?” he asked, patiently trying not to lose his temper. If the redness creeping up his neck was any indication, he was having a hard time staying in check.

“You really don’t know shit about this valley, do you?” Madi laughed at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has come to my attention that there are many people upset at the idea of Clarke & McCreary being in a relationship of any kind, let alone romantically. First, let me remind you that I'm not a show writer and therefor don't need to stick to the strict character outlines the show projects. My vision of Paxton McCreary is a little bit different than on the show. And secondly, it's fan fiction! I know I'm new here, but I hope you can find a few reasons to trust me more than Jason Rothenberg...


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leave it to a 12 year old to be the most honest of the bunch...

"Two of those does were pregnant," Madi schooled them. "If you want to eat next year, you don't kill your food before it's born."

They were down at the riverbed where the deer used to be when they started unloading their gear. “We can camp here tonight, but don’t set your tents up until you’re ready to use them,” Clarke instructed.

“Why?” The nameless prisoner from the back of the rover looked around inquisitively. “Is there someone else here?”

McCreary pushed himself between them and dropped his pack. “Can’t you smell the dirt in the air?” He had a stunned look on his face. “You’re a surveyor and you forgot what dirt smells like? It’s gonna get windy soon.” He turned to Clarke before asking “Do I need to set my tent up or are we gonna share again?”

Bellamy’s jaw ticked and his eyes narrowed in the few moments too long that it took for Clarke to consider his question before answering. She should’ve been able to answer right away if they were a thing, wouldn’t she? As it turns out, maybe she was just concerned about Madi being right there.

Clarke shook her head, patted McCreary on the back, and went to the river to fill her canteens. “I cook, you catch,” she said to Madi. “And remember we have more mouths to feed tonight. You should take Bellamy and teach him how to catch them so he can teach his crew when they decide where they’re going to set up camp.”

Bellamy wasn’t expecting to hear her refer to the SpaceKru as only his friends, instead of their friends. His nostrils practically flared. “Why don’t you teach me Clarke? You catch, Madi cooks. I’ll even help her with that too.”

She glanced over to the girl and saw her eyes shining with excitement. Clarke knew how disappointed Madi was when they came down from the ring and weren’t an instant happy family. Maybe she shouldn’t have told her all of those stories. Maybe she shouldn’t have told herself all of those stories.

“Madi needs to catch,” Clarke insisted. She shot a fast look toward the prisoners, silently telling Bellamy she didn’t want to leave her charge with them. 

The fact that Clarke trusted him to be with her daughter over the guy she was supposedly hooking up with gave Bellamy a little hope. The fact that they were still able to communicate without words gave him even more hope. “Alright kid. Show me what you’ve got.”

Madi pulled open the big pack Clarke brought. She took out a large net and two sticks with string attached to them. She showed him how to wrap the string around the two sticks, binding them together and making a longer pole. Almost as an after thought, she turned back to Clarke with her hand out. “Sword?”

“You need a sword to go fishing?” Bellamy asked, eyebrows cocked so far up they were hidden behind the hair that had fallen over his forehead. 

Madi giggled. “You’ll see…”

He followed after her, leaving Clarke with the three Eligius men. He didn’t like leaving her behind, but she had survived for six years on her own. Besides, she seemed comfortable enough with McCreary on her own and the other two were busily setting up weird metal tripods. 

Madi led him about 300 yards upriver from where they were planning to camp. Once she got to where she wanted, she handed the pole to Bellamy and approached the water with the net in one hand and the sword in the other. He watched her quietly, wondering what exactly she was doing. Several times she attempted to swipe the net through the water but came back empty each time. Instead of getting discouraged, the kid steeled her back, took a deep breath, and concentrated on the water in front of her. Her head followed the erratic movements of something in the water for several minutes. Just as she swooped down again, Bellamy realized she’d been studying the movements of her prey. 

As quickly as she’d caught the fish, she slammed it into the rocks along the shore several times. When it stopped thrashing, she dumped the bloodied thing out onto the ground. Bellamy stood back and watched her chop the creature up into smaller chunks that she tied to the end of her rod tightly.

“No fish hooks?” Bellamy asked. He’d read every book he could find in the Earth Skills classroom. Hook were an important part of fishing.

Madi turned and smiled at him, the first truly friendly smile that he’d seen since they landed on this god-forsaken planet. “It takes Nomon hours to make one hook. After I’d lost many, we had to figure out a different way. This works, you’ll see.” She nodded toward the river, beckoning to Bellamy that he needed to come closer. “Ready?” she grinned, the pole still over ground instead of water.

He nodded, not sure what he needed to be ready for exactly. She thrust the sword into his hand and brought the bait over the water. 

“Be ready,” she warned. "As soon as I drop it on the rocks, you have to kill it.”

“How?” He asked, turning the sword over in his hand. 

“You chop off the head,” she giggled. “How did you ever survive when you were here before?” 

Madi’s tease drew a smile from him. “Well, I never went fishing and I never questioned the ones who brought back the fish.”

“And now you’ll never have to.” The huge grin remained on her face as she bobbed the chunk of fish around in the water. It didn’t take very long before he saw the string go taut, pulling away from the girl. With an expert movement, Madi pulled the fish back to her and swung it out of the water, dangling by the string.

Bellamy blanched when he first saw the fish. He couldn’t remember ever seeing anything like it before, but he didn’t spend too much time studying it before bringing the sword down just behind it’s gills.

“Perfect!” Madi cheered. “Eleven more and we can sit down and take a break before we have to go back. Just don’t tell Nomon.”

Bellamy couldn’t help but share his own grin with the child. “Clarke’s pretty smart. Won’t she notice if we are taking longer than normal?”

“She has no idea how fast I can do this,” Madi bragged. “I always take a break.”

Bellamy laughed and readied the sword for the next catch. In less than an hour, they had thirteen fish to clean for dinner. Madi showed him how to gut them before they were each strung on a line of string.

After washing their hands in the river, Madi led Bellamy over to a rise above the bank. Siting down with their legs dangling over the edge, she leaned back on her arms and let the sun wash her face. 

“So…” Bellamy had no idea what to say to this girl. Maybe he shouldn’t say anything at all. Maybe she wanted silence.

“You’re not what I expected. I thought you’d smile more. I thought she would smile more once you came back.” Madi pulled her feet up and tucked them crisscross under her knees. Turned to face him directly, Bellamy could tell she expected to have a legitimate conversation instead of any polite back and forth.

“I guess if I’d expected to ever see her again, it would be impossible for me to stop smiling. Nothing is what I expected and I know we aren’t what Clarke was expecting either.”

“You can say that again,” Madi snorted. “From all of the stories she told me about you guys I figured everyone would be so happy, but none of you are. Why not?”

Bellamy knew what the true answer was but wasn’t sure this kid needed to hear about her adopted mother’s feelings being hurt because of his relationship with Echo. “I don’t think everyone is unhappy. I think we all just need to get to know each other again."

“Nomon is the exact same as she was the day I met her. She hasn’t changed. That means you did, so change back, problem solved.”

Bellamy looked down at the river beneath his dangling feet. “It’s not that easy. Six years is a long time, especially when you think someone isn’t alive anymore the whole time.”

Madi shook her head rapidly. “But now you know she’s not dead, so you can go back to being leaders together. She can be your Princess again and you can be her Rebel Knight.”

He tried not to react to the girl using his pet nickname for Clarke, but he didn’t know why the kid would refer to him that way unless that’s what Clarke told her he was. “I wish it was that easy Madi, I really do. There’s a lot to deal with though.”

“You mean your space girlfriend? Do you love her more than you loved Nomon?”

Bellamy didn’t know how to answer that question at all. Of course he still loved Clarke, but he was still adjusting to the fact that he wasn’t forced to love a memory and nothing more. He’d never admitted it out loud to anyone, but he didn’t think he would ever love anyone more than he loved Clarke Griffin. “What does Nomon mean?”

“Mother. Nice change of subject. Too bad I’m not easily distracted. So what’s the deal? Do you still love her, yes or no?”

Her tenacity reminded him of a young Octavia. He had once had a string of nightmares on the ring where he and Clarke were happily together and had a little girl. She had Clarke’s complexion and blue eyes and his dark hair. Each time he dreamt of them, something horrible would happen and he would wake up in a cold sweat. The girl in his dreams could’ve easily been Madi. 

“I think I’ll always love her. I also don’t think she wants me to anymore. I don’t want to hurt her any more than I already have.” His response was almost whisper quiet.

“I like the Rebel Knight Bellamy a lot better than you.”

Bellamy looked up quickly, stunned that she would say such a thing.

“No seriously. I’m not stupid. I know you are with some other lady now, but I also think that if you’d heard Nomon call you and talk for hours every single day you would have waited for her. Of course Clarke is upset. She waited for you. If you still cared about the way she feels about you, you’d grow a backbone and do something about it.”

“Since you know Clarke better than me, what exactly would you suggest I do? Even for her to be my best friend again?”

“If I was you? I’d realize that she’s still the same girl you left behind. She saved your asses, all of you, and you haven’t treated her with the kind of respect she deserves. I don’t know how it was for you in reality down here, but Nomon is the hero of the story no matter which one she tells, even if she doesn't admit it herself.” 

Madi stood and wiped the dirt from the back of her pants. She paused long enough to grab the string of fish and walk back toward the camp. It was a straight line back to Clarke, there was no reason to wait for him to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I can say is "..."   
> (click that comment button and tell me what you can say)


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing says I Love You like calling someone a dumb ass. Also referred to as: Madi loves her parents... And what the cuss is wrong with a little Blake-McCreary Brotp?

For four days the group made their way from their central spot to the northern most point of the river and back. Clarke drew a rudimentary sketch of what the valley looked like in regard to roads, hunting grounds, and important plant life but suggested that they use the Eligius shuttle to do aerial mapping. It would be more accurate, she insisted. McCreary agreed and decided to head back to the village to send Shaw and a small crew to do just that. Clarke decided that she and Madi would stay and help the surveyors and when Bellamy stated his intention to stay, she spoke out against it.

“You know how to drive the rover Bellamy,” she said. “Besides, you need to get back and see what’s happening with WonKru and your group.”

“You mean our group,” Bellamy bristled.

Clarke gave him a tired smile and shook her head. “Not anymore, they are your family now. You all hardly know me.”

Behind her, Madi was shooting daggers at Bellamy. Her widened eyes and tilting head screamed at him without using words. Whether he didn’t know what to say or just didn’t want to say it, she couldn't tell. Either way, it was the girl who replied to Clarke. “They all know you perfectly well Nomon. They just aren’t remembering for some stupid reason.”

“Madi!” Clarke scolded. She’d never had to discipline the child over manners, but there was never anybody around for her to be rude to. 

“What?” Madi’s angry expression turned toward her mom. “You think it’s been fun the last four days watching the two of you talk to anyone but each other? Like, how in the hell is McCreary supposed to teach Bellamy about the deer population here? He flat out asked you and you walked away, leaving this serial killer dude to fake an answer. Which was wrong, by the way.”

For as embarrassed as Clarke was over being yelled at by a kid half her age, Bellamy seemed to be amused.

“Oh no you don’t.” Madi turned her ire to Clarke’s former partner. “I told you the first day we were out here to get your head out of your ass but it’s still shoved way up there, isn’t it? I used to think all the stories Clarke told me were true. There’s no way The Princess OR the Rebel Knight existed. And if they did, they’d both be ashamed of you two. So fucking talk to each other or just end it.”

The kid turned heel and stomped away. “I’m sorry about that,” Clarke muttered.

“No, don’t be,” Bellamy stammered. “It’s hard for kids to understand things sometimes.”

“Same goes for adults.” Clarke hitched her bag back onto her shoulder and started after Madi. “We’ll make our way back to the village before the renegotiations. You should just take him back.”

Bellamy nodded, his lips pursed. “You have a radio in your pack in case you need anything, right?”

Clarke shook her head. “I don’t care for radios very much anymore.” 

Following after Madi, she caught up with her and swung a friendly arm around her shoulder. Bellamy could see her pull the kid into a half hug and kissed the top of her head. If shaking his head could sort out his constant state of confusion, his thoughts would be crystal clear by now. Instead, he trudged over to the rover and waited for McCreary to finish ordering his guys around.

They were almost back to camp before he started talking. Bellamy thought he’d be lucky and not have to deal with this guy at all, but when was he ever truly lucky?

“So what’s the history between you and Goldilocks? Did you at least break up before you left her down here to rot?” McCreary baited him.

Bellamy’s jaw ticked and his grip on the steering wheel tightened. “We were never together and I left her behind because she told me to.”

“Did she really though?” If Bellamy had bothered looking to his right, he would’ve seen the man squinting. “That’s like truthfully answering your wife when she asks if her ass looks big in those jeans. She doesn’t really mean it, man. ‘Go without me’ was probably her way of begging you to stay so she didn’t have to die alone.”

“Did you kill your wife too?” Bellamy lazily looked at the man he couldn’t stand.

McCreary just grinned. “Since you seem to know everything about me, why don’t you tell me how my wife died.”

“So you were married? You don’t seem like the marriage type,” he shrugged.

“I’m not. Not anymore.” For a flash, the cold, unfeeling mask that McCreary always wore seemed like it was going to fall off. “And no, I didn’t kill her. My brother did, so I killed my brother and began a new and exciting life of murder and mayhem.”

Bellamy wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. “Why would your brother kill your wife?” he pushed.

“Because my brother was a piece of shit junkie who decided she had to have been the one to narc him out to the cops. They decided payback was deserved.”

The information was slowly seeping into Bellamy’s head. If he was telling the truth, that’s a pretty huge thing. Not that it excused him from becoming a pathological serial killer… “If someone killed Octavia for something like that, I’d probably kill them too,” he admitted.

“Octavia?”

“My sister, the one who is the leader of WonKru,” Bellamy explained.

“So you have a wife, but when considering your own reaction to her hypothetical murder, you skip right over her and on to your sister?”

“Echo isn’t my wife.”

“If Clarke had been with you up in space, would she be your wife right now?”

As hard as he tried to decipher it, Bellamy couldn’t figure out why McCreary would be interested unless he was actually intent on pursuing Clarke. That wasn't a thought Bellamy wanted to entertain. It was obvious that they weren’t together now, so what did it matter? Instead of lying to himself, he chose to ignore the question. “So how did you go from killing your brother to killing everyone else you could get your hands on?”

McCreary laughed and couldn’t resist being a smart ass. “Someone who kills as many people as they can get their hands on is a spree killer. I am no spree killer, I am a serial killer, remember?”

Bellamy rolled his eyes. 

“But the truth is, I only killed the people who deserved to die.”

“And what made you qualified to be their judge and executioner?”

“I held my wife’s brain in my hands after that piece of shit put a bullet in her face. Last I knew, that was the only requirement needed to get the job.”

It was really none of his business, but Bellamy cared about Clarke. And Clarke cared about Madi so it was automatic that he would feel protective over the kid as well. He needed to know what kind of monster Clarke was sleeping with; what kind of evil was sleeping under the same roof as Madi. 

“So you killed your brother. What then?”

McCreary shrugged. “My brother was just a middle man in the local heroin ring. He didn’t murder Sarah without direct orders to do it. It didn’t seem fair to punish him and not everyone else involved. So one by one, I killed every fucker I could get to before they locked me away.”

“So you’re not even a serial killer, you’re a vengeance murderer,” Bellamy chuckled, not really finding it funny, but unable to resist the correction. McCreary’s expression was completely blank. “I had a lot of time to read the past few years. So how did you end up on the Eligius team?”

“They were looking for prisoners with a construction background to send on a experimental mission to mine the resources of other planets. It was a program the United States government had been working on ever since the first moon landing happened with survivors. When they discovered a whole new solar system with planets similar to ours, they worked with the military to figure out how to get humans to a place that would take decades to reach but still be alive and well enough to do the work. Once that was figured out, five different ships went there.”

“We only found records for One, Two, and Four. What happened to Three and Five?”

McCreary turned to watch the scenery go by through the side window. “By the time we got there, Three had been missing for a long time. According to the mine bosses, it never showed up and they were never able to contact them. Five was the ship that Diyoza was on. Before they’d even landed on the surface, the prisoners had come out of stasis and killed most of the crew. The only one left was Shaw, their pilot. They showed up a few years after we did, and by the time that happened, all hell broke loose back home. There wasn’t a home to go back to. So when Diyoza’s people took charge, we could either work for them, or end up like Five’s crew.”

Bellamy wasn’t sure if he should believe everything he was hearing or not. He wanted to hate McCreary without question. But maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t a dangerous person. Maybe Bellamy couldn’t hate him for being evil, he could only hate him for having Clarke. Considering the Echo situation, that made him a pretty big hypocrite. 

“How dangerous is Diyoza?”

“I wouldn’t let down your guard around her. Those shock collars are her creation. After you’ve been forced to wear one for over a year, getting zapped every day how every many times she was in the mood for, you tend to fall in line and do as you’re told. Even if that means using them on someone else.”

“Thanks,” Bellamy said quietly.

“For what?”

“For watching over Clarke and Madi. For warning me about Diyoza.”

McCreary snorted. “How do you know I didn’t just feed you a big line of bullshit? You already know I’m a serial killer. Maybe I’m a pathological liar too.”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Bellamy declared. “For now, I’ll assume you are being honest but that you’re still an asshole I need to watch closely.”

This time, McCreary laughed loudly. “Noted. But I’m warning you now, I made a promise to Clarke, after I’d tortured her and scared the hell out of Madi, I swore that I would make it up to her and watch over them every fucking day. You need to figure out your shit before I’m actually nothing more than that asshole.”

“Noted,” Bellamy mimicked. .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for hanging out with me here. If we've chatted on the Twitter, you may know how crazy my very real life is. This little 45 minute escape every day is something I look forward to. I hope some of you look forward to it too...


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back home, Bellamy discovers there's even more to their new Prisoner "Friends" and their potential to start and end a war in a single day.

“Bellamy!” Echo’s arms wrapped around him tightly, as though she hadn’t seen him in four years rather than four days. Of course, he was on a trip with some dangerous people, so she had every reason to believe something terrible could’ve happened. “You never radioed in. You didn’t answer when I called you.”

She pulled herself away from him just enough to study his face. At first, he seemed confused, but then he realized. “Clarke has the radio packed and we were away from the rover. Sorry.”

Echo smiled. “Don’t be. You’re home now, that’s all that counts.” She leaned into him, kissing him and noticing his return kiss wasn’t as passionate as it had always been for the past few years. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Bellamy shook his head and looked to the ground. “Nothing, I’m just tired.”

“Just tired? Or is your mind somewhere else? With someone else?” Her eyes shone with tears that refused to be spilled.

“No, no. I’m glad to be back here with you. It was just an exhausting trip back with McCreary riding shotgun.”

Echo took a few steps backward, enabling them to hold a better conversation. “What’s he all about? Is Clarke really shacking up with him?”

Bellamy shrugged. “I don’t know.” As soon as he realized he sounded wistful, he quickly added, “It doesn’t really matter one way or another, right?” The crooked smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Hesitantly, she agreed with him. “Well now that you’re back, we should go talk to the others about what Raven found on the prisoner ship computers.”

“Any word from Polis?” They started walking toward the church at a determined pace. “My sister?”

Echo leveled a serious glare into the distance, in what would be the direction of the capitol city. “According to Monty, they are still attempting to crack into the Eligius computers in order to gain control of the eye and the missiles.”

Bellamy took a deep breath before walking through the heavy oaken doors. “I hate to think what she’ll do if she gets her hands on that. Who is doing the computer work if we have Raven and Monty here?”

Echo glanced at his and quickly looked away. “Harper and Monty went back to Polis. Diyoza sent them to get information on your sister’s plans.”

Bellamy stopped midstride. “So Monty is the one trying to hack into their system?”

“You got it,” Raven smiled, joined the pair, and replied quietly. “Which is why they won’t get in. “

Emori came closer toward the small group, away from a small cluster of strangers at the front of the church. “John went with them to see of any of them are willing to talk about whatever made their Dark Year so dark.”

“Something tells me we don’t want to hear that answer,” Echo pointed out to her small group of friends. “Has Monty gotten any messages through to us yet?”

Raven shook her head. “Radio silence since they left. That doesn’t mean anything bad has happened,” she insisted. “He may have constant company or something.”

“So what did you find on the Eligius computer?” Bellamy asked.

Raven led them back into a small room next to the apse. Sitting down at the large computer console that Diyoza’s team set up, her fingers flew across the keyboard “Their ship is holding fuel ten times more volatile than hydrazine.”

“What does that mean for us?” Bellamy debated with himself over whether or not he wanted to hear the answer.

Raven’s face lost all humor and her eyes shone with fear. “With a single command, Diyoza can wipe what’s left of Polis off the planet.”

Bellamy turned to Echo. “How much of a threat is that? Have you been able to get any information out of them?”

Echo straightened, her expression cooling as her old Ice Nation mask slipped over her features. “Diyoza is a serious issue. She leads the group with fear and some say she’s threatened to replace each and every one of them with one of the cryo-prisoners.”

“Let me guess,” Bellamy breathed. “The ones who are still frozen are worse than the ones already down here?”

Her eyebrow kicked up toward her hairline and Raven gave a quick nod. “I haven’t seen all of the records, but I’ve read a few and it’s not good.”

“Great.” Bellamy shoved his hands into his pants pockets and rocked lightly on his heels. “So we need to make sure the only ones with control of that ship is us.”

Echo and Raven nodded in agreement. “We’ll have to get back on that ship in order to make sure no one else can control it,” Raven informed them.  
Echo and Bellamy traded pointed looks. Neither of them wanted the other to go back into space for any reason, but sometimes you have to do what you don’t want to for the greater good. 

“Is there enough fuel in the pod to go back up?” Bellamy asked.

Raven shook her head. “One way only Blake. The only way we’re getting back up there is in their shuttle.”

“If we can get inside, can you fly it?” Echo asked. “I could spend a few days to see how they change guards. If there’s a pattern, I’ll find a time we can slip inside.”

Her gaze returned to the computer screen in front of Raven. “I don’t know their tech well enough to say if I could fly it or not.”

“Then we find someone who can and make sure they’re on our side.” Echo stated bluntly.

“Zeke Shaw isn’t a criminal. He’s from the crew before Diyoza’s murdered the rest of them. He’s their pilot, the only one who can fly.” Raven turned to look out a small window. There were several prisoners gathered in a fight ring taking turns beating the hell out of each other for sport.

“So we make friends with Shaw.” Echo’s smile reached her eyes, excited to be back in the spying game. “Tell me everything you know about him and I’ll find out everything else.”

‘No,” Bellamy commanded. “Just because he wasn’t a criminal to begin with doesn’t mean he’s not one of them now. Look what he did to Raven and Murphy.”

Raven’s full attention fell back to her friends. “I can handle this.” She assured them both. 

She shared a knowing look with her friend who had taught her a few tricks over the years they were stuck together. “So what’s up with Clarke?”

Echo rolled her eyes. “I’m gonna go check to see if the hunting party is back yet.”

Bellamy traded a chaste kiss with her as she left. “She stayed behind with the surveyors. We mapped the north end of the river and they are working their way south. She said most of hunting areas and plant groves are near the water so it made sense to map the river and branch out from there.”

“Why’d you come back early?” The once familiar crinkle returned to Raven’s forehead. “Did something happen?”

“I had to drive McCreary back. Clarke suggested that he gather a group and do aerial mapping. That would be a way to get on board their shuttle and maybe you can work your way into the pilot’s seat?”

Raven agreed. “That would be a perfect opportunity. There’s a good guy inside of Shaw. I think I can find it.”

“Well do what you can but don’t feel like any of us expect you to do anything you’re not cool with.” Bellamy blushed, unable to look Raven in the eye while giving her dad advice.

A smile took over Raven’s entire face. It was always amusing to see Bellamy Blake become flustered. They merely nodded at each other before Bellamy made his exit, using the hunting party as an excuse to not talk about Raven’s potential sex life. He stopped in the doorway. “Have any of the Delinquents made it to Eden yet?”

“Not that I'm aware of. I overheard Diyoza planning some kind of defection, a way to show your sister she's not in charge anymore.”

“Right then. I’ll see you at dinner.” Bellamy stumbled over his words. “Let me know if you hear from Monty.”

“You got it Captain.” Raven laughed.

Another small group of men were gathered in a tight group, laughing and passing a book or something around. Curious, Bellamy approached the group. 

Whatever he was expecting to see, Clarke’s sketchbook was not it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken so long for this update. I spent a week or so with a newborn gotcha-kid who took 2395% of my attention and energy. He's at home now, and I rewrote my outline. I hope this is still within character (my version, not Jason's). Leave me notes! I need adult conversation in my life....

**Author's Note:**

> Uh yeah... It really bugged me that everyone assumed the bunker folks lived but didn't have even 1% of hope reserved for Clarke. The first night back on the Ark, they declared her dead and moved along. This is my childish way of being irritated about that.


End file.
